Lathes are used to hold work pieces at their centers with chuck jaws as work pieces are turned in unison with the jaws while a fabrication operation is performed on the work piece. Normally the rotating work piece is contacted by a stationary or moving tool which performs the fabrication operation while the chuck jaws maintain the work piece in a horizontally disposed orientation. When the operation is initially performed and then inspected by removing the work piece from the chuck jaws, it is sometimes necessary to remount the work piece in the lathe's holding jaws to perform some further work piece modifications, refinements or a second different lathe operation on it. In order to do so, it is essential that the work piece not only be properly centered within the lathe's jaws but that it not be marred before the next operation is performed on the work piece. This remounting and centering of the work pieces within the lathe's jaws while not marring the previous finished work piece, especially for large shafts, can be time consuming. The present invention addresses this time consuming set up operation of the work piece by providing for the use of lathe mate pads with expandable extensions that engage the chuck jaws to prevent the marring of the work piece as further described herein.